While a lot of people complain about getting fat during the long Christmas season and the New Year, I am trying to collect all my thoughts tonight for the 365-day journey I’m about to begin this year.

Early last year after getting into a vehicular accident, I have cared more about the people around me and the things I enjoy doing. Battling to my second life was a struggle and certainly, these circumstances made my 2012.

And like everybody else, I’m now drafting my plans for 2013 before life gets busy again tomorrow.

1. Travel. I’m a fan. This year, I have planned three among others in my mind, Hongkong and Macau and Boracay. Thank goodness, Cebu Pacific gives chances to poor kids like me to still manage to step on other places without worrying much about plane fares.

2. Career. I’m enjoying my job but I still consider getting better opportunities the soonest. So I guess, the first quarter of the year will be about job hunting. Bahala na si batman!

3. Studies. I’m few units away from completing my Masters degree. This part of the year excites me. And I don’t know if marching some time this year or next year contributes to my career growth. Haha!

4. Love. After last year’s twists and turns, I’m thankful I still feel sane about this thing. And unlike my job, I’m not into love-hunting. (P.S. For the record, I welcomed 2013 without changing partner unlike the past 5 years of my life. Dako na jud ko.)

5. Etcetera.

Getting to shape this year. Chos

Lesser bisyo, thanks to Sin Tax! 🙂

Pay bills on time. Gawd!

Explore greater heights.

American series overload.

Happy New Year!

There is nothing so novel about my plans, I suppose. But this should be a more exciting year. And I’m claiming this to be a better year to me, my friends and my family.

Initially, I was thinking of just posting all the pictures I got from the recent Cebu escapade but after getting an enormous number of likes on my fb post and having to answer a number of FAQs about it, I’m blogging the trip in a different, but not so novel, way.

So how did we get there?

Or how did we even know it exists?

I booked a ticket for Cebu after getting so envious with the pictures of Camotes Island my bestfriend took. Right away, I asked a travel buddy, who, for the purpose of this blog will be named NT, to take the next seat of the plane with me set for the entire beach hopping. But the bestfriend insisted in going to a ‘better’ beach called Gibitngil instead of the former. So we bit the suggestion and got the punch out of it.

Here’s a detailed instruction on how to get there.

Disclaimer: This tip is based on the worst scenario of going there. Some steps may alter should you not bring any jinx with you.

1. Take the Ceres Liner in the North-bound bus terminal satellite. Be sure to be there at 6 am and don’t forget light breakfast which you can bring handy on the bus. The trip will take 4 hours en route Consolacion, Danao, Compostela until you reach Medellin. And yes, you’re still in Cebu after 4 hours even if you see signs like ‘This way to Leyte‘ or ‘This way to Masbate.’ Remember, Gibitngil is the northmost part of the Cebu so don’t fret. No need to change the sides of your shirt.

Bus fare: P130

That’s sandwich 101. Bring ham and cheese for the bread. Felt like drivethru.

2. As soon as you reach Medellin, take a padyak to get to the mini port. Or you may just walk straight to the left where the bus stops.

Padyak fare: P10

3. Hire a pump boat. Learn the art of bargaining. If waves get higher as you see, be not afraid. It’s more fun that way. The boat-ride takes 15-20 minutes.

Boat fare: P1,000 – P1,500 (back and forth)

Savor the moment while you’re still on the boat. It’s seldom you get a glimpse of nature’s beauty as this.

4. This step doesn’t happen all the time. If the sea is calm, you get straight to Gibitngil’s shoreline. However during our visit, we were not able to cross the other end of the island as waves did not permit us. So we were dropped at the back part of the island where we have to go trekking for an hour. Yizzz! An hour of walking to the beach. Along the way are big rocks, unbelievably tall grasses, narrow and muddy walkways. You talk to yourself then hoping the beach is worth the trek.

Friendly tip: Go barefooted when you wear flipflops. The strap of my havs gave up even before reaching the end of the trek.

Nadamay pa ang aking havs. 😦

5. Alas! We have reached Gibitngil. Nothing feels more relieving after a hell-ish journey we had. Heaven!

These were the sms I received from a friend when I was on my way home from the South. Actually, I don’t know Edmee. I know she’s a friend of a friend. And I know how she looks like through pictures, mostly in the resto or somewhere with food. But beyond that, I know she is a smart kid, a CPA for that matter, who holds a high position in Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas at 28.

And the last sentence makes the whole story a lot sadder, right?

Her condition wasn’t actually hereditary, as the diagnosis showed. There are inferences though. But I’m leaning more on the fact that she has been too overworked and she doesn’t have enough outlets to, perhaps, unload her daily stress.

In other, but still related, part of of this story, I just finished printing another cover letter for the job I am eyeing to get pretty soon. Last night, I was sharing this with a college colleague as we both work in the same company now but we’re in two different branches. She’s planning to leave to. The catch, she wants a more challenging job, I want a less stressful one.

That common UP survivors’ thought stressing not to settle in any government agencies or offices as workplace as it will (surely) catalyze the corrosion of your brain cells is what she holds true until now. Well there’s a validity in it but I don’t care thus I finished printing the letter.

My work as an Account Analyst for the Marketing and Enforcement Division of Pag-IBIG Fund is all that I’m dreaming of until I retire. I mean it. Now, I’m still enjoying everything that I am entailed to do within the 8-hour shift. I am even getting compliments from my officemates everytime they say, ‘Hindi umubra ang daan-daang clients sa’yo ah. Maghapon mong kaharap ang mga tao pero bakit parang wala lang nangyari?’ Mind you, they say that as I shut down my computer. Lels. But because of some circumstance, I have to soon leave the job.

That has always been my principle at work. Find the job that you want. Enjoy everyday doing what your job requires you to do. After all, hard work is not the secret to success. Success is based on your mindset. I might have a relatively difficult job, as per officemates, but hey, I love this that’s why it couldn’t be any easier than it appears to me.

The job I’m ardently wanting now is actually less complicated. I will forever keep the mindset with me so I can do good during the interview.

I have never been an avid fan of movies. That’s a given fact. I don’t remember names, setting, directors, stuff alike. I just watch and laugh when everybody does.

Three weeks ago, I was invited to watch The Hunger Games (HG) when a friend got grumpy after his friends had HG on the big screen a day ahead of him. He was left with no choice so I just volunteered to go with him even if he knows I’m a bore in the cinemas.

HG

The movie had me in awe. I went back home telling my mom how good it was. I reported back to work with the same story in my pocket for my officemates.

Just hours ago, I was asked (yes, asked!) to watch Battle Royale (BR) by the same friend with the initial warning that I’d be watching the same plot as that of HG. 2am and I was patiently watching the killing scenes, more morbid and more fearless than HG. I’m not dwelling into everything that transpired between the two movies. Spare me, I’m a bad storyteller when it comes to movies. :p

BR

I was, at some point, frustrated upon closing the laptop thinking that Suzanne Collins (author of HG) got the entire idea of the story from BR. That’s of course, after she negated the notion with her released statement that the story of HG was a biproduct of switching channels using the remote control. Duh.

I wish I had not seen BR. The relatively sublime feeling I had with HG went down as I learned it ‘could-have-been’ just another alteration of the movie, BR. The two movies can not be co-incidental. No way. See how these two characters from both movies appear to have the same role.

FROM HG

FROM BR

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In other news, it’s been months since the last drama. I’m not into telling more dramas today because it will only make me look down to myself more and nobody can make me feel inferior now without my consent, sabeh! haha. Pero kuan oy. Nevermind.

And three long months after the recent vehicular accident I had, I was able to drive again. This time, more wary but with an expired license.